Secret Pizza Party by Adam Rubin (review)

“Poor Raccoon. All he wants in life is some pizza.” Unfortunately for Raccoon, it’s hard to get your paws on a slice when you have a rep for stealing food and digging through trash cans. An unnamed narrator (and ally) comes up with the suggestion of a secret pizza party (“Regular pizza party: Get that raccoon off the table!! Secret pizza party: Get that raccoon another slice of pizza, he’s the guest of honor”), and Raccoon takes to the idea immediately. He manages to steal a pizza, escape the raccoon-sniffing broom-bots, and hole up safely in his tree; rather than stopping while he’s ahead, he then crashes the neighbors’ secret pizza party and gets caught red-handed fully reclined on a table full of pizzas. Secret eating is an appealing notion, but the joke is taken too far for the story to support, and some of the humor is outside the audience range. The watercolor, gouache, and colored pencil illustrations make the starring raccoon crafty but loveable, veering between anthropomorphism (he’s bipedal and trenchcoated when he’s in the pizza parlor) and authentically animal (in escape, he darts like the wild creature he is). The palette effectively contrasts the raccoon’s monochromatic markings with the yellows and reds of the pizza throughout, and the lively, slightly offbeat compositions bring a welcome helping of energy. The story doesn’t quite deliver, but listeners will empathize with the misunderstood protagonist who just wants a piece of the pie.